Legaty pieniężne i rzeczowe na rzecz instytucji kościelnych w testamentach duchownych z diecezji płockiej w XVII wieku

• Authors: Dariusz Główka

Title variants

EN

LEGACIES TO CHURCH INSTITUTIONS IN THE TESTAMENTS OF PŁOCK DIOCESE CLERGY IN THE 17TH C.

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

Among many bequests included in testaments, following from the wish to settle one’s worldly affairs and share out one’s property, there were the so-called religious legacies. They concerned various elements of personal property: valuable objects, livestock, crops and money, which were bequeathed to Church institutions or congregations. It should be stressed that 17th-century testaments rarely specified the motifs of bequeathing property to Church institutions by clergymen. It seems that the motifs were so obvious that they were not considered worth mentioning. Legacies of that type may have been conventional and customary among the clergy. It was common, however, to specify the purpose of the legacy. In the testaments analysed there were 37 mentions of Gregorian masses, 13 of anniversary masses, 2 of alms. There are also legacies described by various terms but meant to pay for prayers for the testator, to finance repairs of churches or to buy liturgical paraphernalia (named “pro fabrica”). The last category was most numerous in the documents examined, amounting to 42 legacies. The purposes of such legacies were often described very generally, but sometimes they were specified more precisely, for instance building a belfry, repairing a church roof or founding an organ. In most cases, however, the money bequeathed was left at the disposal of the parish. The second most common type of legacy concerned paying for 30 day-after-day masses for the testator. The sums left for that purpose were between 10 to 100 zloties, but in most cases they did not exceed 30 zloties. Masses were usually celebrated at convent churches. Legacies of that type were usually made by priests of lower rank (altarists, curates or parish priests). Bequests to parish churches were mostly made by local priests. The same concerns legacies left to religious fraternities in Płock, Pułtusk and other towns. Legacies were also made to neighbouring parishes. The documents analysed reflect the impact of convents on parish clergy. Most legacies (40) were left to the Bernardine friars (Observants); less popular beneficiaries were the Jesuits, the Reformati and the Carmelites. The connections between convents and lay clergy did not exceed the range of 50 km. Among less common bequests were those of grain, livestock and woollen cloth (7 cases). Worth mentioning are also legacies to hospitals, which inherited sums reaching up to 10 zloties from 8 testators in 6 parishes. The most privileged beneficiaries were the hospitals of St Lazarus and of the Holy Spirit in Pułtusk. To conclude, it should be stressed that the religious legacies of Płock diocese clergy in the 17th c. had two dimensions: the spiritual one, regarding departing this life and the testator’s wish to ensure that he will be prayed for by the living, and the worldly one connected with property and the intangible sphere of the testator’s relationships with other clergymen.

Keywords

EN

CATHOLIC CHURCH; WRITTEN SOURCES; TESTAMENTS

• Publisher: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 59
• Issue: 3-4
• Pages: 408-414

Contributors

author

Dariusz Główka

• Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii PAN, Al. Solidarności 105, 00-140 Warszawa